Published on August 4th, 2017 | by Guest

Techy Home: 3 Affordable & Modern Tech Amenities Your Home Is Lacking

As technology continues to come into our homes and impact our lives, people have to keep up. If you don’t look at upgrading every now and again, your home is eventually going to fall behind. New tech can be more than just fun – it can save you significant amounts of money and time as you go about your day, or have your back if you’re being particularly forgetful. If you don’t have or haven’t thought of getting any of these three affordable and modern tech amenities, your home might very well be lacking.

1. A Smart Speaker

Home smart speakers are rapidly gaining in popularity, the most prominent being the Amazon Echo and the Google Home. Apple’s HomePod is due out later in 2017. These speakers recognize voice commands and can link up wirelessly to a number of your other devices to perform various tasks. This can be anything from playing audiobooks, listening to the news, making phone calls, and commanding compatible smart home tech. The major smart speakers are less than $200, making them a rather affordable tech amenity for your home. Watch for sales, particularly around the holidays, if you want to save a few bucks. You should also get the speaker that will be most compatible with your existing devices – for example, if your music library is entirely through Amazon, you should get an Echo.

2. Streaming Service Subscriptions

If you currently haven’t looked into the options available, you should really get serious about considering cutting the cord. Streaming services are quite reasonably priced and you can purchase the ones that have the content you want. For example, if you want to stay up-to-date on current TV shows, Hulu is a good option. Netflix is better for movies and older seasons of TV shows if you need to catch up or start a new series. There are plenty of other specialized streaming services, such as Crunchyroll for Japanese anime fans. Some of the major channels have their own subscription options as well, such as CBS’s All Access and HBO’s HBO NOW. If you still prefer to have a cable package as well to watch programs streaming subscriptions haven’t started providing, namely sports, you can do that too. There are plenty of professionals who can inform you of your options when it comes to purchasing telecommunications services. Do your research, like these ACN Reviews, before choosing who you will work with.

3. Remote-Controlled And Smart Thermostats

Remote-controlled Wi-Fi thermostats are relatively inexpensive nowadays, at only about $100 or so. These thermostats can connect with their designated apps so you can control the temperature of your home remotely, giving you the ability to turn things down when no one is at home. If you want to spend a little more money, you can get a smart thermostat. Prices vary by brand, but typically you’re looking at $170 to $250 or so. That’s fairly reasonable for a device that can literally save you hundreds of dollars on heating and cooling costs annually. Smart thermostats have remote-control options as well, but they have the added bonus of learning your habits, sensing whether you are home or not and adjusting accordingly.

There are a lot of fun tech gadgets out there, and we’ll see which ones end up standing the test of time. But for the moment, these three affordable and modern tech amenities are all the rage, and your home may be lacking them. If you haven’t looked into purchasing any of these items, take a look at their features and see if they might be good additions to your household. Pretty soon we won’t be able to imagine life without them.

Tags: affordable, amenities, home, lacking, modern, tech, techy